


Driftwood

by cyancandy



Series: SouMako Week 2015 [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: First Meetings, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Mermaid Sousuke, SouMako Week, mermaid au, trigger warning explanation in end notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-13
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 04:36:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4990483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyancandy/pseuds/cyancandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt 2 for SouMako Week: AU (Mermaid AU)</p><p>Makoto avoids the ocean ever since he lost his best friend to a horrible storm. On the anniversary of that day Makoto makes an exception, and his life once again makes a dramatic turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Driftwood

**Author's Note:**

> content/trigger warning: dealings with death and grief. Check end notes for a more detailed trigger warning.
> 
> Mermaid AU since I figured that I might as well indulge in one of the most common AUs in this fandom. My interpretation of mermaids is a haphazard mixture of traditional mermaids, sirens, and selkies, but the specifics aren't too important to the story. Enjoy~

The ocean was as black and still as the sky above it, the stars so dim there was no hint of their reflection on the water. The sky was devoid of clouds, but the roar of the waves around him were almost enough to make me choke. 

The summer night was calm, but in his head it was two years ago to the day, when the ocean had without warning turned into a screaming fury of wind, rain, and thunder. By the time the storm passed, nearby homes, stores, and roads, and half a dozen lives, vanished. 

It was harder to move on without a body to bury, without a clear indication that yes, it’s a fucked up world where the people you love can just die without warning, but at least we can accept that and focus on what we have. Except, they hadn’t just died. They had disappeared. And that knot of uncertainty, of forced ignorance, was much harder to unravel.

Makoto didn’t know how the other family members and friends of the lost reacted, but for him it was like Haru never left. Nor was he there; he was a half presence, a figure always lingering in the corner of his sight, as if since Haru never really died in a single place, he haunted Makoto instead. Some days it felt like he was truly gone, but then the next day would come and Makoto would find himself almost on his way over to Haru’s house to make sure he made it to school on time. There was a part of Makoto that knew with unabashed certainty whenever he found himself outside that house that if he just went inside, he’d find Haru waiting for him. So he didn’t go near it anymore.

No one expected Makoto to heal quickly and he knew that, but the pain of losing his childhood friend was lasting longer than he thought it would. He didn’t know if he was angry at himself for still hurting, or if he should be thankful for it lasting this long. Because the longer that he hurt, maybe the longer he’d be haunted; that way, he’d never have to say goodbye. 

Makoto avoided the ocean since the storm. He went to school as far from the sea as he could, and despite his love for his family, he only came back home when he had to. People assumed that Makoto was scared of the ocean and to a point that was true. Past that point, Makoto didn’t fear the ocean. He hated it.

But when he found himself at home again on the anniversary of the storm, Makoto waited for his family to fall asleep and snuck out the door. He wandered through the quiet streets until that quietness was suffocated by the sounds of the sea, and soon his soft steps on the cement were met with the crunch of sand. Even in the moonless night he found the old path through the rocky cliffside that he and Haru used to take to find their secret cove. Makoto suspected now that the cove was not as secret as he imagined it to be as a child, but with only the stars above him and the echoing howls of the sea, that sense of magic came rushing back. Sitting here with his knees to chest and staring out to where the black ocean met with the black sky, Makoto could almost forget about the storm and all that it took, and all that it left behind,.

He didn’t know what he was waiting for, or what he expected to find. A part of him felt that coming back here might help him heal, and maybe it would. But at this moment, no amount of magic could heal his hurt. “You’ve been haunting me for a while now, Haru. I guess I just wanted to try haunting you,” Makoto said to the shifting waters beneath him. He picked up a smooth pebble and, after contemplating it for a moment, threw it into the cove to watch it sink.

And met a pair of eyes looking back.

“Ahh!” Makoto fell back against the rocks, only just catching himself from falling into the water and earned a few scratches on his hands. By the time he had himself together Makoto was sure his mind had just played a trick on him, but when he looked up again the eyes were still watching. Well, not just eyes, but a man. He floated in the water up to his bare, muscular shoulders, and his hair was as black as the night around him. He seemed oddly calm, maybe even bored, despite sitting front row to Makoto’s dramatic reaction.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out like that, you just scared me!” Makoto called out. “I didn’t hit you with that stone, did I? Wait, what are you doing in the water at night? Are you okay?”

The man didn’t say anything. His face wore an almost frown, and his head was tilted to the side the way that dogs do when they hear an unfamiliar noise. Makoto suspected he might be hurt or lost, so he scooted down closer to the water. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked again.

Maybe in response, the man swam up closer to him. Oh good, he can swim just fine, Makoto thought, taking that to mean the man was alright. He continued to approach until Makoto could see more of man's features. He looked about Makoto's age, his features hard with eyes of teal. He only stopped when he was just beneath Makoto, closer than a stranger would normally be.

“You seem okay, but what are you doing out -” He was cut off when the man set his hands next to Makoto’s and pushed himself up from the water so fast that Makoto had no time to pull himself back when the man’s lips met his own. The kiss was cold, wet, and over in a moment, the man falling back into the water with a splash and a smirk. 

“Oh! Um!" Makoto had his hand to his mouth, his face burning red despite the cool night air. "Why - why did you -” 

“Why did I what?” the man asked. His voice was deep and rough, and as lazy as his expression.

“Why did you kiss me?!”

The man tilted his head again. "Why do you ask? What does a kiss mean to your kind?"

"Umm...well, it means...I mean...my kind…?"

"Nah I'm just fucking with you, I know what a kiss means," the man laughed, leaning back in the dark water to look up at Makoto, floating as effortlessly as Makoto sat.

The laugh made Makoto blush. “Then - Then why did you…?”

“So I could talk to you,” the man shrugged. 

"So...you could...?"

Instead of answering, the man just leaned back further and lifted his legs out of the water. Wait, no, not legs, but a whale shark tail...

“Oh...oh. You’re a mermaid. Or, merman? Oh.” Makoto's hands fell to his lap. He knew this should be more shocking than it he felt, but if Makoto's view on life was going to dramatically shift, tonight seemed a fitting night to do so. “Mermaids are real, oh my god. What else is real then?” he muttered with a panicky laugh. “And I thought that I was scared of the ocean before…” 

"You're scared of the ocean?" The merman asked with another tilt of his head, ignoring Makoto's other ramblings. 

"Yeah, kinda," Makoto said, running his hand through his hair. "Two years ago my friend died out at sea during a storm, and ever since then...I don’t really like the ocean anymore." He was silent for a moment, but he suddenly jumped and look back down at the merman. “Oh, not to insult your home or anything. It’s just, you know, complicated for me.”

"He died at sea, huh?” The merman twisting around in the water until he could face Makoto more comfortably. “Maybe he turned into one of my kind." 

"Maybe he…” Makoto repeated the words to try to understand them, and when that understanding came he almost fell into the water again. “Maybe he what?!"

There was another shrug. "It's one way that we're born. People who drown deep at sea can become one of us sometimes." 

Haru loved the ocean, so Makoto could see that happening, even if it was absurd. Still, Makoto found a sense of hope blossoming in his chest that he hadn’t felt in years. "Do you think you know him? His name is Haru - I don't know if he'd look the same now but he had black hair like you but it fell in his face and he had blue eyes, as blue as the ocean in sunlight. He was really quiet, and he loved water more than anything, and he..." The merman was silent throughout his rant, and when Makoto's voice trailed off he continued to stare at him. "I...maybe it was just wishful thinking..." He muttered, staring back down at the stones.

The merman was quiet for a moment more, and then he said, "Does he say shit like 'Too much effort', go around pouting everywhere, and is weirdly obsessed with mackerel?”

Makoto's breath caught in his throat, his head whipping back up to the merman. He knew he should be happy, and he was, so indescribably happy. So why he started crying then when he hadn't cried in the two years since Haru disappeared he couldn't say, but he couldn’t stop either.

He heard the movement of the water beneath him, and wasn’t surprised when he felt a splash of water hit his side as the merman pulled himself out of the water. “Why are you crying?” the merman asked, his voice a mixture of curiosity and concern. “Your friend is alive, so why are sad?”

“I’m not sad,” Makoto choked out. “It’s just...I found out that mermaids exist and my best friend isn’t dead within ten minutes and I’m just…” he laughed then, scrubbing his hand over his cheeks. “...overwhelmed?”

The merman didn’t say anything for a while. Makoto could feel his eyes studying him, and even if the tears had already started to slow their fall, Makoto willed himself to calm down.

"If you want..." The merman began, his eyes boring into Makoto. “I haven’t seen Haru in a while, but I can find him and bring him here for you. If you want to see him.”

Makoto's breath cut at this throat when he tried to steady his breaths, but at Sousuke's words they caught there instead “You’d do that?” he managed to ask.

The merman nodded. “It’ll take some time though. And I’ll only do it on two conditions." 

It was hard to control his voice again, but after taking a few breaths Makoto managed, "Are you going to take my soul?"

The merman’s eyes widen, and then he was laughing so hard that even Makoto found himself smiling back. “No, gods no, you can keep that,” the merman said, still chuckling. “And for the record, my kind can’t take souls. I don’t even know if souls can be taken. But no, your soul is safe with me.” 

“Well, that’s good,” Makoto pulled his knees up against him again, the water on his side now beginning to give him a chill. “Well, then...what’s the first condition?”

"Tell me more about your kind."

Makoto tilted his head. "Okay, but why do you want to know about us?"

The merman shrugged. "Because I'm curious."

“Fair enough,” Makoto smiled. “What’s the second condition?”

When the merman leaned in close, Makoto felt his heart pounding, but he didn’t try to pull back. “I want more of these," the merman murmured before kissing him again.

The kiss was only slightly longer than their first one, but still Makoto found himself blushing again. It was softer as well, and Makoto almost shivered from the damp coolness of the merman’s lips. When the merman pulled back, Makoto whispered, “Oh, umm...does kissing help you understand me better?” 

The merman smirked. “Maybe,” he whispered back.

"Will you not answer most questions about being a merman?"

The smirk deepened. "Maybe."

"Ah. Should have expected that." Makoto laughed quietly,the only trace of his temporary break down left being the slight ache in his chest. "Well, okay. I can agree to...um, your two terms.” The merman’s eyes glistened mischievously, so he continued. “Where do you want me to start? With my kind, I mean?"

“Well,” the merman paused. “What’s your name?”

Makoto smiled. "It’s Makoto."

The merman smiled back. "Sousuke."

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning: in this drabble Haru dies unexpectedly in a storm. Makoto is grieving and while he is still functioning normally in his daily life, he is also not dealing with his grief in a healthy way. This story has a happy ending and for the most part is pretty happy, but the beginning has a lot of detailed grief. 
> 
> If any of y'all accuse me of stealing the whole "kissing people to magically learn their language" from Teen Titans...then you're absolutely right. I loved that plot device man.
> 
> I really didn't want to end the story here, but I also want to try to get the other prompts done at least close to their respective days ;w; I will try to add the next chapter soon, I already know how it'll go so it's just a matter of putting the words down.


End file.
